EX-SERVICE organisations campaigning to prevent the town's cenotaph being moved within Civic Square were not encouraged by the result of a meeting with council chiefs last week.

At the end of the 90-minute summit, Yvonne Innes, secretary of the Royal British Legion's Ellesmere Port branch, said: 'Basically, we wanted the council to re-open the case, but it doesn't look like they are prepared to do this, so the battle goes on.'

As part of a £3m facelift, the council wants to move the war memorial from the centre of the square to a new location on the southern side, replacing it with a water feature.

But the scheme has run into formidable opposition from the area's ex-service groups.

A petition started by the RBL now has almost 4,000 signatures and last Wednesday, the battle was featured on Granada TV news.

Miss Innes said: 'During the meeting, we were given the opportunity of sending one of our people to state our case before a council committee, which we will do.

'We were told that there had been a slight adjustment to the plan and that the cenotaph would not now be as far over in the corner as it was originally envisaged. But we are adamant it must stay in the middle.

'We were quite alarmed to be told that work on the scheme was about to begin and I sought assurances the memorial would not be moved immediately. I think I eventually got such an assurance.'

She added: 'We were not encouraged by the meeting, so the battle goes on.

'The petition is going well and our latest move is writing individually to all of the borough councillors, asking them which side of the fence they are on.'

A spokesperson for the borough council said: 'The meeting was held to allow all groups to air their views in an attempt to clear up any misunderstandings regarding the plans for the Liveability project.

'The council will consider whether at this late stage it is possible to incorporate any of the suggestions made at the meeting.'

Ellesmere Port MP Andrew Miller said: 'I have been approached by the Legion about this, which is surprising because I have seen a letter sent to them by the council last August which talks about an agreement having been reached.